LEVALLEY DNA TEST
Updated May 4, 2024


    In 2009, we conducted a  Y-chromosome DNA test of almost every LeValley family known, as well as nearly every branch of the bigger families.

    This is a test of 37 places on the Y chromosome where markers are usually passed unchanged from father to son--with slight mutations occurring maybe once in a century.  (Places labeled in red tend to change faster than the others.)  In the chart below, blue background indicates a decrease in count, while orange background indicates an increase.  Darker shades mean greater change.

    By rights, we should use the Valcartier, Quebec LeValley family as our baseline for comparing everybody else, because they are the only LeValley group whose European ancestry is definitely known.  But we have only one sampling from that family, and one is simply not a broad enough foundation on which to build everything else.

    Fortunately, the test revealed the DNA of Peter LeValley of Warwick RI--passed down through his grandsons Peter Sr. and Cook, unchanged through 300 years.  Since this is the largest LeValley family in America anyway, we use it as the basis for our comparison.  The first column shows the number of variances from that base.

    Individuals from the larger families are color-coded in the left column, and their lineage explained:
Green = Peter LeValley family of Warwick RI
Purple = LeVallee/LeValley family of Valcartier Quebec
Salmon = Joseph LeVally/LeValley family of Xenia OH
White = Smaller LeValley families in the U.S.
Gray = Sorel LaValley control group

    What have we learned so far?

1.  We already knew that the larger LeValley families are not related on this side of the ocean.  The test indicates they were not very closely related in Europe either.  The test does not narrow down which country they came from.

2.  We had hoped to attach some fragments to the bigger families.  That didn't happen.

3.  Much educated guesswork in constructing the family trees has been confirmed.

    But we also got several nasty surprises.  Three individuals with supposedly known genealogy--two in the Peter LeValley family and one in the Xenia, Ohio group--didn't match up at all.  (Since we only have two samples from the Xenia group, we can't be absolutely certain which reflects the original settlers, and which is the aberration.)  We need to review the documentation, and test more individuals to see if we can isolate the problems.

    We got a fourth surprise when the representative of the Andrew Jackson LeValley family tested out as American Indian.  Stories about an infidelity appear to be true.

    Scientists divide the world's male genetic lines into 20 haplogroups, labeled alphabetically.  Most LeValleys come from the R group--the most common in western Europe.  (Ours is R1b1b2, to get real specific.  That has since been renamed as R-M269.  In 2024, the haplogroup was renamed again as R-Y3964.)  Three individuals tested out in various parts of the I haplogroup, which seems to have spread with the Vikings.  Haplogroups go back much earlier than genealogy to reveal the migration routes of our cave-man ancestors 25,000 years ago.  You can see interesting maps at:
http://jewsandjoes.com/images/ftdna-migration-map.jpg
http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mcdonald/WorldHaplogroupsMaps.pdf

    The French-Canadian LaValley family of Sorel, Quebec asked to join us because they had a stray Pierre who disappeared from Canadian records about the time Peter LeValley settled in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  (The test proves they were not the same person.)  We thought that family would at least form a control group for our test, but their results are not a lot different from some of the other LeValley families.

    And sometimes there are just odd circumstances.  The line of Peter's grandson John Jr. reverted to a more common pattern shared by families with other names through the first 23 markers--but results varied on the remaining markers.  There is probably no close relationship, but this emphasizes why we did the full test instead of relying on shorter versions.

    We encourage other LeValleys to be tested.  If you are interested, please get in touch with us.  (We did the Y-37 test through Family Tree DNA.)  Or if you have already been tested elsewhere, please share your results.  We will protect your privacy.
. b
a
s
e		 h
a
p
l
o		 3
9
3		 3
9
0		 1
9		 3
9
1		 3
8
5
a		 3
8
5
b		 4
2
6		 3
8
8		 4
3
9		 3
8
9
-
1		 3
9
2		 3
8
9
-
2		 4
5
8		 4
5
9
a		 4
5
9
b		 4
5
5		 4
5
4		 4
4
7		 4
3
7		 4
4
8		 4
4
9		 4
6
4
a		 4
6
4
b		 4
6
4
c		 4
6
4
d		 4
6
0		 G
A
T
A
H
4		 Y
C
A
II
a		 Y
C
A
II
b		 4
6
5		 6
0
7		 5
7
6		 5
7
0		 C
D
Y
a		 C
D
Y
b		 4
4
2		 4
3
8 
Peter
Peter
Peter Sr.		  0 R 13 24 14 10 11 15 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 18 17 37 37 12 12
Peter
John
Christopher		  5 R 13 24 14 10 11 14 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 24 15 19 30 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 17 17 37 38 12 12
Peter
John
John Jr.		  2 R 13 24 14 10 11 15 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9  9 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 18 17 36 37 12 12
Peter
John
Peleg		  1 R 13 24 14 10 11 15 12 12 13 13 14 29 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 18 17 37 37 12 12
Peter
John
Cook		  0 R 13 24 14 10 11 15 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 18 17 37 37 12 12
Peter
Michael
Peter Jr.1		  3 R 13 24 14 10 11 15 12 12 13 13 13 29 16 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 29 15 15 17 17 10 11 19 23 16 15 18 17 36 36 12 12
Peter
Michael
Peter Jr.2		 54  I 13 22 14 10 13 15 11 14 12 12 11 28 15 8   9   8 11 22 16 21 25 12 12 14 15 11   9 19 21 15 15 16 19 36 38 12 10
Peter
Michael
Benjamin1		 47 I 14 23 15 11 15 15 11 14 11 14 12 32 15 8 10 11 11 25 14 20 26 11 14 14 15 11 10 19 21 15 14 `18 18 35 38 13 10
Peter
Michael
Benjamin2		 47  I 14 23 15 10 15 15 11 14 11 14 12 32 15 8 10 11 11 25 14 20 26 11 14 14 15 11 10 19 21 15 14 18 18 35 38 13 10
Valcartier 13 R 13 23 15 11 12 14 12 12 12 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 26 15 19 29 15 15 16 16 11 11 19 23 15 15 18 17 35 37 12 12
Prosper 15 R 13 23 14 11 11 14 12 12 13 13 13 30 18 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 30 14 14 15 17 11 11 19 23 16 15 15 17 36 37 12 12
Charles F. 14 R 13 22 14 11 11 14 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 24 15 19 29 15 16 17 17 11 11 19 23 16 15 17 17 35 40 13 12
Victor 12 R 13 22 14 11 11 15 12 12 12 13 13 29 16 9   9 11 11 24 15 19 29 14 15 17 18 10 11 19 23 15 15 18 17 38 39 12 12
Joseph
George
James J.		 19 R 13 23 14 11 11 14 12 12 14 13 13 29 18 9 10 11 11 25 14 20 30 15 15 17 18 11 10 19 23 17 16 17 16 36 38 14 12
Joseph
John J.
Joseph		 48  I 14 23 16 10 15 16 11 13 11 13 12 29 15 8 10 11 11 25 15 21 28 11 13 13 15 11 10 19 19 17 15 18 18 32 36 12 10
Andrew J. 31 Q 13 23 14 10 11 18 12 12 11 13 14 30 17 9   9 11 11 25 15 20 30 14 14 15 15 10 10 19 22 15 15 16 18 32 38 13 11
Coldwater 11 R 13 24 14 11 10 14 12 12 13 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 33 15 15 17 17 11 11 19 23 17 15 19 17 37 37 12 13
Napoleon
Ionia
Sorel 15 R 13 24 14 11 11 14 12 12 11 13 13 29 17 9 10 11 11 25 15 19 30 15 16 16 16 11 11 19 23 16 15 16 18 36 38 13 12


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